DR Congo: Calm prevails in Uvira after clashes

Écrit par Antoine Lawson | 29 Septembre 2017

KINSHASA, DR Congo, September 29 (Infosplusgabon) - Calm has returned to Uvira, in South-Kivu of DR Congo, on Thursday evening after an attack earlier in the day by the Mai-Mai militia of William Yakutumba.

The militia were driven back by the DR Congo armed forces (FARDC), backed by forces of the UN Mission for the Stabilization of DR Congo (MONUSCO), a civil society activist, André Bienvenu Dunia, told reporters late on Thursday.

The Mai-Mai attacked city, from the port of Kalundu, on board of 4 motorized boats on Lake Tanganyika, and attempted in vain to attack the FARDC army post located in the district of Nyamianda.

According to Mr Dunia, who did not specify the death toll from the clashes, the FARDC succeeded in destroying two boats of the assailants, forcing them to withdraw.

On Wednesday, the same assailants had attempted to break into the city of Uvira from the mountains overlooking the city from the west, but were driven back by the FARDC.

Originally from the territory of Fizi, in South-Kivu, Yakutumba is a former FARDC fighter who left the army in 2007.

He said he was leading a "liberation war against invaders who pillage the riches of the soil of his ancestors". His movement has been collecting taxes from mining in zones under his control.

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/VHM/GABON 2017

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